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Local 416 primes for a fight

Mark Ferguson, president of Toronto Civic Employees Union Local 416, breaks down Rob Ford’s plan to privatize garbage.

On the suggestion that privatization would save money

“There are much better alternatives than the one that’s being proposed. The cost of delivering solid waste services in the city of Toronto is 30 per cent below the provincial average.”

On public animosity toward the union

I’m hopeful Torontonians will see through the rhetoric. This administration is not looking at the facts but basing its decision on anger and public fury, and that’s not the wise way to make the right decisions.

On union efforts to fight privatization

We are connecting with different community groups. We are asking citizens to call politicians to [ask them to] do the right thing and not sell out public services.

On the role other unions will play in the fight against privatization

That legwork has already been done. We have a pledge from private- and public-sector unions from across the city to stand should to shoulder with us to ensure that assets are not sold off from underneath us. Those ties and allegiances are quite strong.

On what private garbage collection may mean for city recycling efforts

The vast majority of contracts out there are paid on a per tonnage basis, with little regard for the environmental impacts. When you lock into a private contract, there are very inflexible terms and nowhere near the ability to set recycling goals.

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